


The Color of the Phoenix's Tail

by Branch



Series: The Age of Silver [7]
Category: Saiunkoku Monogatari
Genre: Alternate History, Drama, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-12
Updated: 2010-01-12
Packaged: 2017-10-06 05:12:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/50026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Branch/pseuds/Branch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seien sets out to fit himself back into court life, and Ryuuki and Shuurei want to help.  Kouyuu and Shuuei enter the capital scene and find themselves starting to be involved with the princes.  Politics abound.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seien works, sometimes reluctantly, at fitting himself back into the courts. So do some other people.

Being heir seemed to Seien to be one trouble after another, but there were occasional good points.

He looked down at the familiar black sheathe in his hands and smiled crookedly. “Not making a presentation of it this time?” he prodded Shou-taishi.

“Why should we?” the man shot back, “it’s already yours, after all.”

Seien slid Kanshou through his sash without answering; they both knew he’d been stripped of it pretty formally when he was exiled. If Shou didn’t want to remind the Court of that, though, Seien had no real argument. He had turned to go when another thought pulled him up short. “What about Bakuya?”

“What about it?” Shou blinked innocently at Seien’s narrow look. “Your father bestowed it on you and you bestowed it on your brother. Unless he’s dropped it in one of the fish ponds, he still has it.”

Seien barely dignified that with a nod and left to find his brother.

He was accosted on the way, of course; he was seriously considering taking to the roofs to make his way across the palace grounds, lately, except that it would be a lot of trouble in court robes. “Secretary,” he greeted the man, shortly.

Sai trotted along beside him, matching his strides with surprising determination for someone who clearly didn’t see much exercise. “Seien-koushi. I’m so glad I found you, I wanted to tell you: I was dining with some of the undersecretaries just the other night and much talk turned on everyone’s fears that you have no wife or consort.”

What fears? Seien wondered with a bit of exasperation. He’d barely been confirmed as heir, and if he’d had a wife any earlier, they’d all have been afraid about that, too, wouldn’t they? And what made any of them think he could stomach any such thing?

“Now, it would be the easiest thing in the world for me to call my daughter to court, lovely girl…”

“I’m afraid I’m not interested,” he cut the man off briskly. “Good afternoon, Sai-dono.” He took the next turning of the walk, even though it meant a detour. At the next corner he snuck a peek back, hoping Sai wouldn’t be following still. Some of the marriage-minded officials could be very persistent.

Instead he surprised a tight, dark look on Sai’s face that was horribly familiar. It wiped away almost instantly into a smile, but Seien had to swallow in a dry throat.

Sai had looked exactly the way Seien’s brothers had, when he was presented with his swords. He thought about that all the way to the Archives.

Reluctant as he was to give Shou-taishi any more chances for sly amusement at his expense, perhaps he needed advice on this.

When he arrived in the library, though, he had to stop brooding and laugh. Ryuuki and Shuurei had taken over sorting and shelving scrolls, leaving Shouka-sama with, apparently, nothing to do but sit at his ease in the sun and watch them.

Of course, Ryuuki immediately abandoned his task to come catch Seien’s hand and beam up at him. “Aniue, we’re helping out!”

“I see you are.” Seien cast a quick eye over the scrolls, brows lifting just a bit. Those looked like monthly department reports; he’d found quite a few of them on his own desk, recently. Had Shouka taught the children enough to understand how to file these? “Well, I hate to take you away from your job,” he told his brother, “but I wondered if you wanted to come and train with me?” he set one hand on Kanshou’s hilt, and Ryuuki nearly glowed.

“Yes!”

Shuurei looked up at that. “Ryuuki,” she scolded, “you didn’t finish your last scroll, or re-wrap it.” She frowned at Seien. “You shouldn’t encourage him to be careless, Seiran–” She broke off, small teeth catching her lip. “I mean…”

Seien came to lay a hand on her head. “It’s all right. You can still call me Seiran, if you want.”

“And Ryuuki can finish his scroll while I get his sword,” Shouka-sama put in, standing.

“Shouka-sama, we can send one of the pages for it,” Seien protested as his foster-father moved toward the door. It was a rather long way back to the imperial pavilions from here.

Shouka-sama laughed. “Oh, it’s just in the next room.” He smiled at Seien’s expression. “This is the place to keep treasures, after all, and Ryuuki wanted it to stay safe.”

Seien wondered if it was natural to feel so warm, so happy.

* * *

He was not in as good a mood, two days later, when Shou-taishi strolled into his office, waving a letter. “So, you want to speak with someone who can tell you about Sai, do you?”

Seien looked up from the pile of past reports from provincial governors that he’d been making his way through on Shouka-sama’s recommendation, and sighed a bit wearily. He felt like he was drowning in politics. “If they can do so clearly and directly, yes.”

Shou had the gall to laugh. “I think Ro can do that.” He waved another older man in. Seien eyed him warily, but this one looked reassuringly solid and no-nonsense. Unlike Shou. Good. “Ro-dono is an undersecretary of Protocol.”

Seien sat back, arrested. Sai’s own assistant was supposed to give him a straightforward story on the man? “Please have a seat, Ro-kanri,” he murmured.

“What was it your Highness wished to know about Protocol?” Ro asked, settling himself as Shou-taishi left again and closed the door behind him.

Seien was too tired to waste the proper time on indirection. “I believe I may have made an enemy, in Sai,” he said, frankly. “I hoped you could tell me just how bad the results are likely to be.”

Ro’s eyes sharpened; in direct contrast his tone was casual. “Would you happen to know the occasion of the Secretary’s animosity?”

Seien snorted. “Well, I assume it was when I told him I had no interest in meeting his daughter.”

Ro looked at him levelly for a long moment. “Refusing out of hand was not, perhaps, the best decision,” he rumbled at last.

Seien blinked. “But no one can honestly think I’m enough of an idiot to duplicate the Emperor’s mistakes with _his_ concubines.” If anything could put a man off women for good, it was watching all of that going on while growing up.

Ro, taking a sip of tea, sputtered into his cup. “You are… very straightforward, Highness.”

Seien leaned back with a sigh. “And I suppose that won’t do. No one in this place can be straightforward, can they?” He looked away, trying not to slump; he would give so much to be able to talk to someone about work and politics without all this interminable dancing around.

“Not often,” Ro answered. Seien looked back, surprising what might have been a hint of sympathy before the man’s expression turned severe again. “So think well, when it comes time to choose your own advisors. They will be the only ones.”

After a moment, Seien nodded; however much he hadn’t wanted to deal with it again, he did know the rules here. “I understand.”

“Very well then. As for the Secretary, what you may expect is efforts behind your back to discredit any work you accomplish; he’s a coward…”

Seien listened and made notes to himself and smiled faintly as Ro-kanri thoroughly violated his own dictum that only personal advisors would speak straightly to the prince.

Seien made a note of that, too.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuuei and Kouyuu pass the Exams and meet the princes.

### Shuuei

Shuuei leaned on the rail outside his newly-assigned department and smiled. “So, here we are. Real live officials.”

“And even as an official, I can’t get rid of you,” Kouyuu grumbled. He did not, however, stop leaning back on the rail beside Shuuei.

“Why would you want to get rid of your best friend, the one who’s always ready to help you out?” Shuuei asked, innocently. “Or help you back to where you were trying to go, anyway…”

“Shut up!”

When Kouyuu’s growling and Shuuei’s laughter both subsided, Shuuei added, “Hey. Did you notice the Prince, during the ceremony?”

Kouyuu raised a brow at him. “Which one?”

“Seien, of course,” Shuuei told him, patiently. “The one we’re going to spend most of our lives serving?”

“Supposing nothing else happens to him,” Kouyuu muttered. “What about him?”

“Didn’t it seem odd to you?” Shuuei pressed. “I don’t think he changed expression once, the entire time. Ryuuki-koushi was definitely bored, but Seien…” He trailed off, not sure how to express what had disturbed him.

“So he’s better at ceremonies.” Kouyuu shrugged. “He’s what? Seven years older? It isn’t surprising is it?”

Shuuei braced his elbows on the rail and clasped his hands, staring out over the trees. “It was more than that. He seemed so distant; as though none of it meant anything to him, even though we’ll be the officials serving under him the longest.” Half to himself he murmured, “I wonder what happened while he was in exile.”

“Maybe he was somewhere cold and his face froze that way.” Kouyuu snorted. “What, did you not like having someone not paying attention to you?”

“It just seemed strange,” Shuuei said, lightly. “My brothers say he didn’t used to be like that. So I wondered what happened.”

“Mm.” Kouyuu frowned. “I do remember hearing something–about him disappearing?”

“Completely,” Shuuei confirmed. “My family tried to find him, but there was no trace. He set out and then just vanished.”

Kouyuu waved a hand, dismissing the mystery. “He was probably taken somewhere secret for his own safety. The imperial family is like that. It’s amazing any of them survive.” He tilted his head at Shuuei. “Why are you so interested in him, anyway? You can bet our positions won’t involve him for a good long time.”

Shuuei smiled, a bit crookedly. “Oh, well. I was trained to be his supporter, from the time I was little, you know. And then the clan thought not, but then there was the trouble a few years ago, and here I am after all.” He laughed and stretched upright. “Maybe it’s destiny.”

Kouyuu was suddenly smirking at him. “Oh, so you’re Seien-koushi’s intended, huh? No wonder you’re so interested in him.” The smirk became an outright grin. “Should I get you a red veil to celebrate your next promotion?”

“I wouldn’t laugh if I was you,” Shuuei told him mildly. “Isn’t that Yu-kanri, over there? He probably has another invitation for you.”

Kouyuu’s eyes got a little wild. “Ah, I, I should start work right away!” He strode off, in the opposite direction from his new duties, nearly running.

Shuuei leaned back against the rail, chuckling, as his friend fled.

### Kouyuu

Kouyuu dashed down a covered walk. He’d abandoned dignity and started running two courtyards back.

It had been months since the Exams, and they were still after him!

After another two turnings he dared to stop and catch his breath and look around, trying to figure out where he’d ended up.

“Ah, is that Li-kanri?”

Kouyuu panicked and darted through the nearest arch, flinging himself back against the wall, out of sight. He waited, tense, while whichever daughter-laden official was outside shuffled around and finally walked off again making puzzled sounds. Slowly, he let his breath out.

“Who are you?”

Kouyuu jumped at the question and his head snapped around. He was poised to run again before the youth of the voice registered and he managed to relax before he actually sprinted off.

Then his eye took in the quite distinctive gold and silver hair of the two people in the courtyard, and the equally distinctive paired black and white fittings of their swords. Fate, he decided, hated him.

“Seien-koushi, Ryuuki-koushi! I’m very sorry.” He bowed quickly, eyeing the edge of steel Seien-koushi had turned toward him and the way the Prince had pushed his younger brother behind him. A bit cautiously, he added, “I didn’t mean to intrude; please forgive me.”

Rather to his relief, Seien relaxed. “It’s no problem.” He cocked his head at Kouyuu, looking a bit bemused. “Running away from something?”

Kouyuu flushed. “It’s just… invitations,” he muttered. “Daughters.”

“Oh.” The syllable was heavy with sudden understanding. Come to think of it, Kouyuu supposed the Prince probably got at least as many of those as he did.

Ryuuki-koushi tugged on his brother’s sleeve, wide-eyed. “Seien-aniue, are they going to chase me like that, too?” the boy asked, worried.

Seien’s smile softened so quickly that Kouyuu couldn’t help staring. The Prince petted back his brother’s hair. “A little, I’m afraid. I can’t keep them away forever. But don’t worry; I’ll keep you safe.”

Ryuuki nodded, and the shining trust in his face as he looked up at Seien-koushi made Kouyuu’s throat unaccountably tight. He swallowed against it.

And then he had to blink as the young prince turned to him and smiled, bright and generous. “Aniue has trouble with them all the time. You can hide here until they’re gone.”

“That’s… very kind of you, your Highness,” Kouyuu murmured, startled. He hadn’t been prepared for an imperial prince to be so… nice.

“Ah, there you are.”

Kouyuu choked as Shuuei popped up on the other side of the courtyard. How did Shuuei always find him?!

“Ryuuki-koushi, Seien-koushi, I do apologize for the interruption.” Shuuei bowed with infuriating grace and strolled across the court to catch Kouyuu’s hand. “Come along, Kouyuu, Sho-kanri will be annoyed if you’re late again.” With a last, sparkling smile at the elder prince, he towed Kouyuu out.

“Are you sure you’re not just flirting with him?” Kouyuu growled, red-faced.

Shuuei just laughed. “Not yet.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuurei likes her life but wants it to be something more.

Shuurei rested her chin in her hands and sighed. Normally, something like the Council record on the table in front of her was her favorite kind of thing to read, telling all about how the officials who ran the country struggled as hard among themselves as any soldiers to reach the best conclusions and policies they could. And, at first, she’d been delighted to come to the palace with her father and play in the Archives. It had been even better when he’d let her help out with sorting the records, and let her read anything she wanted. Now, though…

“Oh, I see!” Ryuuki exclaimed, across the table from her. “So Finance balances all of the other departments, really… “

Now, it was just reminding her that _she_ wouldn’t ever get to use this knowledge. She sighed again.

“Shuurei?” Seiran came to stand beside her, leaving his own scrolls. “Is anything wrong?”

She mustered a smile for him; Seiran always worried so much when she was upset. “No, it’s all right. I was just…” her voice wavered a little, despite everything she could do, “wishing I could be an official and do something good with all this.”

Seiran’s worried look softened into sympathy. “I wish you could, too,” he said, softly. “I think you’d do a better job than most of the officials we have right now.”

“Mm.” She swallowed and managed a slightly better smile. “It would be nice to really belong here.”

Ryuuki, watching them with a small frown, brightened up at that. “Oh, that’s easy. When we grow up, I’ll marry you, Shuurei, and then you can always be here.”

Shuurei picked up one of the books and hit him over the head with it. Gently, of course; she always took good care of her books. “Stupid,” she declared. “If I got married to you I’d be stuck in the inner courts forever and ever and never get to do anything.”

Ryuuki gave her a hangdog look, hands protectively over his head. “It was just an idea.”

She glowered at him, and Seiran laughed. “Well, even if it is a little selfish of me, it’s nice to have you here to help us,” he said. His smile tilted ruefully. “You’re both better at this than I am, still.”

It was Ryuuki’s turn to lean his chin in his hands. “So, we just have to find a way for Shuurei to stay, and then we can both always be here to help you, Aniue.”

Seiran looked happy enough, at the thought, that Shuurei stopped glowering and smiled at Ryuuki again.

She did wonder just a little, though, if staying here was really the right thing to do.

* * *

Shuurei stared down at the vegetables she was chopping, not really seeing them.

She felt strange, lately. Restless. Angry over nothing, sometimes. She caught Tou-sama and Seiran looking at her in worried ways. Maybe she just needed something to do–but what? If she cooked any more, all three of the men wouldn’t be enough to eat it all. She could only clean for so long at a time before boredom made her want to scream. And Seiran had insisted on hiring workers to fix the roof, so she couldn’t teach herself to do repairs.

She bit her lip, knife slowing. There was that young woman she’d heard the other day while she was out shopping. The woman had said that her employer, Kochou, really needed to hire more young women. And she’d mentioned the district; it wasn’t too far away.

Shuurei had liked the way that young women had held herself–tall and confident. Maybe if Shuurei had her own work, not just work borrowed from the men, she’d feel like she could walk that way too.

“Right! I’ve decided,” Shuurei told the empty kitchen. “I’m going to get a job of my very own!”

And then maybe they’d at least be able to hire someone to take care of the garden, without letting Seiran use imperial money on it.

She turned her attention properly back to her chopping, humming with the pleasure of having made a decision. She should remember how much that helped, for next time she felt out-of-sorts.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuuei transfers, Kouyuu broods, Ryuuki gets a new friend.

### Shuuei

Kouyuu dropped his brush, staring at Shuuei. “You’re what?”

“I’m transferring.” Shuuei leaned back and looked out the window of Kouyuu’s office. “I think I’ll be more suited to the military.”

And Koku-daishougun had caught him practicing with Sou-taifu and pounced on him like a wolf on tasty prey, and he still wasn’t positive that Sou-taifu hadn’t set the whole thing up. But he wasn’t saying that part; it would be bad for his image.

“But you’re about to be promoted!”

“Was I?” Shuuei smiled. Perhaps that explained why he was transferring to such a high starting rank. He’d let Kouyuu find that out on his own, though.

“Well,” Kouyuu sniffed, picking up his brush again, “at least I won’t have to see as much of you.”

“Oh, don’t say that,” Shuuei purred, and laughed as Kouyuu glowered at him.

He didn’t want to lose his favorite friend, after all. Where else would he find someone this pure?

Or this much fun to play with?

### Ryuuki

“Thank you, Shouka-sama.”

Ryuuki watched with interest; Kouyuu was one of the only people who came to the Archives who was respectful to Shouka or stayed to talk with him. Today, though, he seemed a little distracted.

“I’ll come back for the second set of these,” Kouyuu said quietly, laying a hand on a stack of books.

Ryuuki was bored, and Shuurei wouldn’t be here until much later; today was her afternoon on that job she wouldn’t talk to any of them about. So. “I’ll help with them,” he piped up, coming to take the second stack.

“Oh.” Kouyuu blinked at him. “Ah. Thank you, Ryuuki-koushi.”

“It’s okay. Aniue won’t be out of the Council for hours yet, probably.” Ryuuki hitched up his stack and stretched his legs to match Kouyuu’s strides down the halls. He glanced at the distant look on Kouyuu’s face and decided against asking him what he was brooding over. “Why do you call him ‘Shouka-sama’?” he asked instead.

“He’s Reishin-sama’s older brother,” Kouyuu explained. “Reishin-sama respects him very much.”

“Reishin,” Ryuuki murmured, trying to place the name among the horde of officials he was just starting to keep straight these days.

“Kou Reishin, the Secretary of Civil Affairs.” Kouyuu smiled, the way he did sometimes that made him look a lot younger and nicer than usual. “I came here to serve him.”

Ryuuki cocked his head; he heard something in Kouyuu’s voice. Something that seemed kind of familiar. “Did he save you?”

Kouyuu stopped short, staring. “How… did you… ?”

Ryuuki shrugged. “You sound the way I feel about Seien-aniue. Aniue saved me. I just wondered.”

Now Kouyuu’s eyes were a little strange. “What did he save you from?” he asked slowly.

Ryuuki looked away, shoulders hunching. He didn’t like remembering those years. If he did, then he remembered the dark, and if he remembered the dark he’d have to ask if he could sleep in Aniue’s room tonight… He started at a hand on his shoulder.

“Never mind.” Kouyuu squeezed gently before drawing back to balance his stack of books with both hands. He looked like he understood about bad memories. Ryuuki nodded, relieved, and they walked on quietly.

A few halls later, Kouyuu started to turn left and Ryuuki stopped, startled. “Aren’t we taking these to Finance?”

“Of course.”

Ryuuki pointed right. “Finance is this way.”

Kouyuu flushed and then glowered and then stomped past him and down the right-hand hall. “Why do they keep moving these halls around?!”

Ryuuki couldn’t help laughing, no matter how Kouyuu glared. When he caught his breath he ran after Kouyuu and paid more attention to guiding their turnings.

“So… what should I do if I want to serve Aniue?” he asked, discreetly nudging Kouyuu left.

Kouyuu glanced down at him, expression softening again. “Well, first I suppose you should learn how the courts work, so you can advise him well and do the things he needs done.”

Ryuuki nodded, intent. “And then?”

“Learn the people.”

Ryuuki thought about this as he slipped ahead to open the right door. It made sense. “Can I… ask you about things?” He ducked his head a little, glancing up at Kouyuu; he didn’t want to be a bother and make Kouyuu want to get rid of him like almost everyone else always had. He breathed a sigh of relief as Kouyuu grinned at him, companionably.

“Sure you can.”

Ryuuki grinned back. “Okay.”

“Ask later, though,” Kouyuu added, as he reached for the next door. “The Secretary of Finance is a little short on patience.”

Ryuuki nodded and tiptoed in after Kouyuu, setting himself to watch and learn. For Aniue.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seien is learning how to deal with the ministers.

Seien sat beside Shou-taishi, listening to the ministers debate, and practiced looking calm.

“… the merchant clans are starting to move their operations, of course the province has petitioned for Imperial aid!”

“Upkeep of towns and roads has always been a local responsibility!”

“Oh, always? What money was it that built the canals, then?”

The two ministers glared at each other, nearly baring their teeth. Seien sighed; some days he felt more like a nursemaid than any kind of ruler, even one in training. Keeping the ministers away from each other’s throats sometimes reminded him quite a lot of trying to keep a five-year-old Shuurei from dunking herself in the fish pond.

Fortunately, he’d found ministers responded fairly well to much the same cajoling that had worked on her.

“Gentlemen,” he said, voice soft, “let us hear all of the reports before we seek any decision.”

The ministers settled back grumpily, letting the poor provincial official reporting to them talk again.

Actually, Seiran thought, Shuurei would probably love it if she could be here. He could just see the sparkle in her eyes as she rolled up her sleeves and waded into the argument. He could see her standing here with her hands on her hips, scolding everyone like a miniature mother about how skimping on money to repair a roof only meant spending more on ruined floors and furniture. For a moment, he had to fight to keep his smile calm. Thirteen years old, and the girl was already wiser than most of the men in this room.

Well, he could at least bring her wisdom here.

“Kei-jirou,” he turned to the representative from Finance before anyone could start arguing again. “Is it possible to project how much repairing these roads would cost in another three years?”

“Three years?” Kei flipped through his papers and named a figure that made the minister who had suggested such a delay turn pale. Seien nodded, flicking a look at the Secretary of Public Works.

“And there would, of course, be the lost revenue to deal with, as trade slows down in that province.” He hid satisfaction behind his smile as Kan started chewing on the end of his brush. The senior minister for State was also looking thoughtful.

“There’s also the cost of cleaning out bandits, after,” the Secretary for the Military put in. “They thrive when travel is difficult, and the provincial Governor would surely call for help with that since,” he cut a glance at the minister most against the whole thing, “that’s his undeniable right.”

Seien relaxed. With a majority of the Secretaries plus the Minister of State, he could carry this. Carry it without the assistance of Shou-taishi, that was, who was leaning back in his chair and not helping at all. He seemed to get some obscure enjoyment out of leaving Seien dangling with his ambiguous and partial authority, letting him piece together consensus on his own. It did, Seien had to admit, make for stronger policies. He had mostly stopped resenting it.

Mostly.

He still thought he’d give almost anything to have a few more thoughtful, competent officials around here, to help him take care of all the children.

As the officials who would be his grumbled themselves into agreement, he made sure to keep smiling soothingly at them, and tried not to wonder if it would help if he offered them sweets as an incentive. It had always worked on Shuurei, and it was one of the only bribes he could currently produce out of his own resources. He stifled a sigh and tried not to glare at Shou.

At this rate, he was going to wind up looking forward to that damned throne.

**End **


End file.
